28 Days To Trust And Obey 0 Day 19

Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
John 11:40


If there was ever an” impossible” situation in the Bible, this one has to qualify. We have a sickness that ends in death. We have a dead body in a tomb for four days, which is 96 hours. The heart has stopped beating. The blood has quit flowing. The brain activity has ceased. Muscles and tissues begin decomposing. We have a man who is dead.

On the other hand, we have grieving sisters and friends. Lazarus was much beloved by many people, who are terribly saddened by his death. His sisters love Jesus but do not understand why He did not come to help despite the fact that He knew Lazarus was sick. Jesus had healed many others and Mary and Martha had the faith to believe that if Jesus had been on the scene He would have healed their brother too. But now it is too late. Lazarus has died and he has already been buried.

Both sisters point to the fact that if Jesus had only been there things would have turned out much differently. Jesus’ response to the sisters seems cruel and suspect if you do not know the end of the story - He tells them to believe. Their understanding of belief is that Lazarus will be resurrected on the last day. In the present situation there was no belief ,just the cruel cold facts that Jesus did not make it in time, Lazarus died, and he had been buried for four long days.

Once again we are reading another story in the scriptures where sight seemed to communicate one thing, but Jesus calls His followers to ignore what they see and to just believe. The word “believe” means to trust, to have confidence, to have security. That is so hard to do when everything you have experienced in the physical realm tells you to give up, hope is gone, and it is too late. When you watch your dreams die, you emotionally bury them and then you walk away to grieve, but when the Lord tells you to keep on believing, that is very difficult. I am sure that is exactly where some of you are on this challenge.

You started with belief. You have stayed the course, but somewhere along the way your goal or desire died. You did not want it to, but Jesus did not show up when you thought He should. He did not rescue you and asa result you buried your dream. Now, Jesus is telling you to keep on believing for the glory of His name, but you are emotionally too numb to trust.

What you do and what you believe at this point are very critical. If you leave your desire buried and choose to walk away in unbelief, you will not see the glory of God. If you choose to believe even though it is hard to do, you could be an eyewitness to the power of God in your life like you have never experienced before. I am not saying it will be easy. I am not even saying that your desire or request will be resurrected over night. But ask yourself this question: would you walk away in your grief forever if you knew for certain that God was going to intervene and do an awesome miracle?
What I am about to write is crucial. What is God telling you to do right now? Is He telling you it is over and you need to walk away and leave your desire or your dream in the tomb? Or is He calling you to keep on believing despite what you see, what you hear, and yes even what you smell (before Jesus called Lazarus back to life, Mary feared that after four days in the tomb her brother would smell like death itself.)

Many of you are at that point. D o you roll the stone away from the tomb or do you walk away forever? Many people are watching, and if you roll the stone away from the tomb while they are watching and no miracle takes place you will look like a fool. But if you walk away from the tomb now in doubt, is that the will of the Lord, and will you regret it? Those are questions only you and the Lord can answer. I think it is time to ask Him.


Steps to Trust and Obey:

1. What is dead and buried in your heart? How has that made you feel? What have you done to cope with your feelings?
2. What is God telling you to do? Believe and roll the stone away or walk away forever?
3. What are you going to do?